EPC API endpoint epc.opendatacommunities.org is permanently offline

[kin2513]

Issue

The EPC API at https://epc.opendatacommunities.org/api/v1 used by this MCP server is permanently shut down by the UK government.

What happens

All EPC queries return No data found because the old domain now 301 redirects to a static GOV.UK page — not a REST API.

Root cause

Line in mcp_server.py:

BASE_URL = "https://epc.opendatacommunities.org/api/v1"

The UK government migrated EPC data to https://get-energy-performance-data.communities.gov.uk, but the new system does not provide a public REST API. Access is now web-only via https://find-energy-certificate.service.gov.uk/energy-certificate/<id>.

Impact

• get_epc_by_postcode — returns empty results
• get_epc_by_certificate — fails with no data
• Any tool relying on EPC data is broken

Context

• This affects all UK PropTech since 2024
• Even the official api.gov.uk catalogue still lists the deprecated endpoint (it has not been updated)
• No alternative public API exists — the only programmatic access is scraping the HTML certificate pages on GOV.UK

Suggested fix

Either:

1. Remove EPC tools (honest approach — the API no longer exists)
2. Replace with HTML scraping of find-energy-certificate.service.gov.uk pages (works, but fragile)
3. Integrate a third-party EPC data provider (commercial, not free)

See also: https://www.gov.uk/find-energy-certificate